


Charms

by rem_de_firinn



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/M, Feels, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-24
Updated: 2013-11-07
Packaged: 2017-12-30 08:28:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1016381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rem_de_firinn/pseuds/rem_de_firinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keta was born to marry Thorin, but she falls for Bofur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. This is mostly a back story

**Author's Note:**

> The rating on this fic might change as I add chapter. I'm not totally sure.

Keta was restless. It seemed wherever she lay; she was lying on a rock or a twig. Normally, being a dwarf, she didn't mind sleeping outside, but tonight was different.

The first night after riding was fine, but after the second day and Thorin pushing them harder then before. Keta had rolled out her bedroll next to Thorin as she did every night. From her birth, they were meant to be married. Keta was a highborn dwarf and was chosen out of group of other highborn dwarfs by Thorin's father, Thrain.

She grew up away from her family, living in the castle close to Thorin. Thorin was 25 when she was born and wasn't to involved with her. She studied with Balin. They would stay in the grand library of the castle. For hours, Keta would sit with piles of books around her, not just books for learning, but books telling stories of love and romance.

When she was 30, Keta yearned to leave the castle, to walk the streets of Dale. Thorin began coming around to check on her, visited her in the library, and talked with her about her studies. Until one day, he didn't come to her.

Keta could hear the stomping of metal boots and the clanging of various weapons out in the hall. She closed her book and look out into the hall in time to find Thorin running up to her. "You must leave. Get out, go anywhere." He said out of breath. "Thorin, what has happened?" Keta ask, concern written on her face. "There is a dragon. You must leave." Thorin said as he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out.

Thorin grabbed another female dwarf, a servant, and ordered her to take Keta and leave and keep her safe. "I will come back and I will find you." Thorin said just before kissing Keta on the forehead and sending her off with the servant girl.

After a few more hours, Thorin stayed true to his word. Keta found him in a medical tent being treated for minor burns. It was true, Keta did care for Thorin, but the way Thorin had begun to care for Keta. From that day, Keta stayed with Thorin, what ever he did, she did.

But after moving to the Blue Mountains, Keta found herself in an odd situation, the love she was meant to have and the love she wanted. For shortly after arriving to the Blue Mountains, Keta had fallen for another, and it was almost painstakingly obvious.

Bofur was a simple dwarf, a miner who had taken to toy making, carving little figures out of wood. That's how they met, with his carvings. Keta was in a market, buying food for supper, when she happened upon a small booth. The booth was surrounded with a small group of children ooing and ahing at the wooden toys and trinket that graced the table.

Soon, the children ran off as they heard their mothers call, but Keta stayed, picking up a wooden charm on a short piece of ribbon. Bofur turned to the table to see Keta admiring the charm. It was a small piece of colored wood Bofur had found walking along a river. It was colored a light blue and Bofur had carved it into a raindrop shape, almost like a gem.

"Take it." Bofur said shaking Keta out of her trans. "No, I couldn’t possible, not without paying." She retorted. "Consider it a gift from a penniless miner to a most beautiful of dwarf women I have seen in a long time." Keta blushed and looked at the necklace and then back at Bofur.

She smiled and handed the necklace back to him, turned and pulled up hair. Bofur realized what she meant and wrapped the ribbon around her neck and tied it in the back. Keta let her hair fall back down and turned once more to face him. "There must be something I can give to you for such a lovely trinket." She said coyly.

"Just your smile is payment enough." Bofur said with a wink. Keta put her hand on his shoulder to pull him closer to her. She placed her lips softly onto his. When Keta pulled back, Bofur's face split into a large grin. "What is your name, kind sir?" Keta said only inches away from his face. "Bofur. And what is your name, lass?" "Keta. But I must be going. I hope to see you again." She said. Bofur nodded sadly and let her leave.

Thorin walked into the house as Keta began preparing supper. When she turned to face him, the first thing he noticed was the necklace. “Where did this come from?” He said, not mad, just curious. “It caught my eye at the market. A booth with wooden carvings and toys is where I found it. The man gave me a fair deal.” Keta lied. Thorin nodded and went on like nothing happened.

Years later, when Thorin began discussing taking back Erebor, Bofur and Keta still would meet and talk. For a while, it was just talking. Keta didn’t and couldn’t talk to Thorin about what she and Bofur would talk about. She told him of the arranged marriage, and that sort of set Bofur backs a little. But, after hearing from her that she didn’t want to marry Thorin brought Bofur back.

Soon after that, Thorin was making plans to take back Erebor. He became more involved in it, leaving Keta to do what she pleased during the day. She would always go and talk to her favorite dwarf. Soon enough, talking became cuddling and cuddling became kissing. They would spend hours together doing just that. One day, they didn’t cuddle, they didn’t kiss.

“I’m leaving to go back to Erebor with Thorin. I need to stand by him.” Keta said, woefully. “You can’t go. You can’t leave me. You’d be safer here. I know you don’t want him. What is the purpose of going?” Bofur almost began rambling. “Erebor is my first home and I have a duty to the kingdom and to Thorin. I was promised to him long before I could do anything about it. I must follow my duty.” And with that Keta left to go back to her and Thorin’s house.

“I have another dwarf joining the company.” Thorin said as Keta made supper for everyone at the first meeting. “Who?” Keta asked without looking up from the stew pot. “A miner named Bofur.” Thorin said nonchalantly as he exited the room. Keta dropped her spoon into the stew and her head shot up, eyes wide. Not only did he already have kin in the company, he went for her.

So tonight, Keta was restless. She couldn’t sleep comfortably with the dwarf she was meant to be with and she couldn’t sleep at all without the dwarf she wanted. Keta moved around a lot, until a hand came around her waist and pulled her in close. It was Thorin. In his sleep, he could hear her move and he figured a cuddle might help. They would sleep in the same bed in the Blue Mountain, but he never touched her, never cuddled or kissed and defiantly no “rolls in the hay”.

All Keta could do was pretend it was Bofur and try to sleep, but it was easier said than done. Bofur and Thorin held her very different ways. Thorin was as stiff as a board where Bofur was soft and fluffy. Thorin had never cuddled before and it shows. He would squeeze her to hard or somehow pull her hair by accident. Thorin didn’t mean to be like this, he just was. He tried being loose and sweet, but it made Keta feel weirder than normal with him. Somehow she was able to fall into a dreamless sleep.


	2. In the Hobbit Hole

The next morning, Keta woke up cold. Dwalin informed her that Thorin had to leave for a meeting up north with their kin and that they would be meeting back up in the Shire. The Shire took a couple days to reach. The company had split into about four groups, Dwalin by himself, Balin by himself, the brothers, Fili and Kili, went together, and the rest of the dwarfs stayed with Gandalf.

When the door to the hobbit hole open, all the dwarfs came falling into the doorway, Bofur just happened to land right over Keta and the fact that there were another half a dozen dwarfs pushing him down on her did not help. After Bofur stood up, he helped Keta up. Their eyes met for a moment. They hadn’t touched each other since the night Keta told Bofur about leaving for Erebor.

Bofur was the first to move, but not of his own accord. His brother, Bombur, was pulling him towards the pantry to help bring food out to the table. Keta began helping moving chairs into the dining room. The hobbit that they were to meet was running around his house telling them to stop and put things back, but no one listened. As everyone began sitting down to eat dinner, Keta ended up sitting next to Bofur, who was sitting at the head of the table.

Keta had become absorbed into the conversation and didn’t realize that Bofur would stare at her, watch her smile when Dwalin pour the rest of his drink into Oin’s earphone. After dinner, the dwarf wondered around Bag-end, some being followed and scolded by Bilbo. Keta found herself in the hobbit’s personal library, look through his books. His collection mostly contained books of history and places in Middle-Earth.

“Excuse me, can you not mess with those.” Bilbo said as he ripped a book from Keta’s hands. Keta wasn’t going to take any of it. “Hey, what’s your problem? I was just looking.” She said, her voice already becoming squeaky. Bilbo shoved the book back onto the bookcase and had walked away before he heard her. He was busy scolding another dwarf for using one of his doilies as a dishcloth.

Soon enough she could already hear the sounds of Fili and Kili begin to mess around. She walked into the hall to see the brothers tossing around the hobbit’s dishes and Bilbo telling some other dwarfs to stop what they were doing because they’ll blunt the knifes. “Oh! Do you hear that, lads. He says will blunt the knifes.” Bofur said with a twinkle in his eye.

After that was said, Fili and Kili began sing and soon, everyone joined in. Keta even tried dancing with the hobbit, but gave up on account that he was fussing too much about his dishes. Soon, they all ended up in the dining room with a stack of clean dishes in front of them and a distressed hobbit running into the room to find them all laughing at the situation. But then, all the laughter came to a halt when they heard a booming knock come from the door. “He’s here.” Gandalf said.

Gandalf opened the door to a not-so-happy Thorin. Thorin smiled at Keta after turning around to see her. He almost never smiled, at least, not at her. Thorin had be acting different with her, cuddling her, smiling at her. And with that, Keta now realized what was happening to Thorin. He was starting to fall in love with her and this was a problem. Keta loved Thorin, but as a brother, she grew up around him. Plus, she was in love with Bofur, no matter how much she tried to push it down.

All the dwarfs and Gandalf sat back down at the table, Thorin now at the head with Keta next to him and Bofur next to her. This made her very uncomfortable. She didn’t even really hear anything until Bofur would begin talking. When she snapped back into reality, the hobbit was lying on his back on the floor, passed out.

After moving Bilbo into a chair and fixing him up with a cup of tea, the dwarf roamed about the hobbit hole, finding places to set up their bedrolls for the night. Keta was just relaxing when she heard humming coming from the living room. She moving into the room slowly, not even realizing that she too was humming along with them. Thorin began the song, singing of the way to Erebor, then Bofur joined in, singing about what had happened when Smaug came and took the mountain.

Soon everyone was unwound and sleepy. Keta dragged her feet across the floor to her bedroll. Hers was set up right next to Thorin’s, but what she didn’t realize was that Bofur wasn’t far away. She had prayed to Mahal that he could at least sleep in the next room, but no, he had laid out his bedroll next to hers. They weren’t side by side, like Keta’s and Thorin’s, but it was close enough for him to see her and watch over her.

Keta was too sleepy to move her bedroll and too tired to protest. She all but fell face first into it. A little bit later, Keta felt Thorin come up behind her. He didn’t hold her, but he was pressed in closely. The movements made Keta open her eyes and she was met with the sight of Bofur getting into his bedroll. He looked over in time to she her watching him and all he did was smile and give her a small wink before settling into bed.


	3. I really should think of better chapter titles than this

            When Keta woke up, it was very early in the morning and the dwarfs had already begun packing up. Thorin sat next to her in the same place he had slept. Keta sat up next to him, yawned and then slumped down onto his shoulder, not realizing whom it was. Thorin stop whatever he was doing and stared down at her. He nudged her head up and cupped the sides of her face to get a good look at her.

 

            When she finally opened her eyes again, she was greeted with Thorin’s face close to hers and that woke her up. Keta jerked back for a moment, head ducking down so she didn’t have to look at his face. Dwalin called for Thorin and he moved to get up. After he walked away, Keta began rolling up her bedroll.

 

            After the dwarfs finished packing and cleaning, they got on their ponies and started making their way to Erebor. Most of the conversations were about the hobbit, dwarfs ask “Why a halfling?” as they began to make the big trek to the mountain. Thorin was quiet for the ride. Keta tried to start a conversation, but he didn’t budge.

 

            Keta slowed down to be next to Bofur. She knew he would talk to her. When Keta finally got next to him, they could hear someone yelling. “Wait! Wait!” Everyone stopped and turned around to see Bilbo, running as fast as his big feet could carry him, up to Balin, waving the contact in the air. “I signed it.” He said completely out of breath. “Everything appears to be in order.” Balin began. “Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield.” Balin said with a smile and wink.

 

            “Give him a pony.” Thorin said gruffly. “No. No, that won’t be necessary.” The hobbit began to ramble about being able to walk some where before Fili and Kili grabbed him by the arms and lifted him up long enough for a pony to be put underneath him.

 

            Soon the hobbit was sneezing and saying that they had to turn back. Thorin look more than annoyed, but then Bofur stepped in. “Here.” He said, ripping off a corner of his shirt and tossing it at Bilbo. “Use this.” Bilbo held it up in front of his face and looked at it in disgust as everyone began chuckling at him. “Moving on.” Thorin said gruffly.

 

            When they set up came, Bilbo couldn’t sleep and it was obvious. Most of the company was sleep, save for Fili, Kili, Balin, Bofur, Thorin, Keta, and Gandalf. Keta was sitting with Fili and Kili, as they filled their pipes and began smoking. Bilbo got up to stretch and walked over to his pony before running back after hearing a screech in the distance. “What was that?” He said shyly. “Orcs.” Kili said calmly. “Orcs!?” Bilbo squeaked.

 

            Fili and Kili went on, trying to scare the hobbit and it worked, up until Thorin shut them down. “You think that a night raid by Orcs is a joke?” Thorin said, glaring at his nephews. “We didn’t mean anything by it.” Kili said ducking his head down. “No, you didn’t. You know nothing of the world.” Thorin said as he walked away. “Don’t worry, lad. Thorin had more cause then most to hate orcs.” Balin began tell the story of the fight at Moria.

 

            After the story everyone moved to go to bed. Keta almost had to drag Thorin to his bedroll. He stopped her and held her hand. “Keta, I must apologies. I have been trying to make you more comfortable and I don’t believe I’m very good at it.” Keta put her fingers up to his mouth to shush him. She smiled and pulled him down to lay on his back on his bedroll. She lifted him arm up long enough to slip under and lay her head on his chest.

 

            She pulled him arm back down around her shoulders as she snuggled into his chest. Something warm bloomed in the middle of Thorin’s chest. He pulled her closer to him and fell asleep easily, but Keta didn’t do so well.

 

            She could still see Bofur and he could see her. Bofur looked sad. Not a “I lost something” sad but a “I lost someone” sad. Bofur looked absolutely defeated. He knew Keta couldn’t do anything about the situation, even though she really wants to. Keta turned her face into the fur lining of Thorin’s coat, trying not to cry or wake him. She failed miserably and end up silently crying herself to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Keta had awoken to a warmth on her back. Her mind went straight to Bofur and the way he would hold her. Whenever she would move, even if it was just to streach, he would gentle tighten his arms around her. This would make her smile and pull him down for a kiss, but when Keta opened her eyes, she was met with the sight of Bofur packing up his bedroll. Keta flipped around to find a snoozing Thorin behind her. When she moved to look at him, he pulled her in tighter and -snuggled- into her side.

Keta looked up just in time to see Dwalin moving toward them. He signaled from Keta to wake Thorin up and she nodded back. "Thorin, you msut wake up and greet the day." keta said as she gentle shook him. Thorin grumbled and pushed his face into Keta's side. Soon enough, she was able to rouse him and get the ponies packed up and moving.

***

Thorin called them to a stop at a run house, or what was left of a house, for camp. Gandalf had raised protests to Thorin and told him they should make for the Hidden Valley. Thorin refused the protests and Gandalf left with a huff. Thorin gave posts, Fili and Kili were to watch the ponies, Oin and Gloin were to start a fire, and Bombur was to start making dinner.

After a little while, dinner was being served up and Bofur sent Bilbo into the forest were Fili and Kili were to give them dinner. Not too soon after that, Fili came running into camp, "Trolls! Bilbo went to check. They have him." He said, all out of breath. Everyone jumped to their feet and grabbed their weapons and set off into the forest.

***

After Gandalf had toppled the rocks above the trolls, turning them to stone, the dwarf began getting out of their sacks and redressing. Thorin walked over to Gandalf to have a talk with him. Keta found Bofur's hat, she brushed off the dirt and turned to see Bofur and Bombur helping Bifur into his pants.

She waited till they were done to approach him. She tapped him on the shoulder and when he turned to see her, his face lit up. The twinkle in his eye came back. "Thank you, lass." Bofur said as he accepted his hat back and winked at her. And with that, Keta was grinning from ear to ear.

Thorin turned away from Gandalf for a minute to see Keta and Bofur together. White hot rage boiled within him. Keta was meant to be his. He made eye contact with Dwalin and nodded towards them. Dwalin nodded back as he approached Keta from behind. He grabbed her by the arm and all but dragged her over to Thorin. Thorin grasped her arm and brought her in close. "What do you think you're doing?" He said just above a whisper.

"I am not your child, Thorin Oakenshield." Keta said as she tried to wriggle out of his grasp with no avail. "You are to be my wife and you will obey me. I am your king." Thorin said as he bore his eyes into Keta's. "Now, you can ride along side me for the rest of the journey or you will ride on my pony with me. I will give you this one choice." He said as he released her arm. Keta let her head fall and walked over to mount her pony. She moved the pony to stand next to Thorin as he got onto his and they set off for the troll cave.

***

"Fili, Kili, stay here with Keta. Make sure you take better care of her than you did with the ponies." Thorin said almost slinging Keta over towards them.

When the small group resurfaced from the troll cave, Thorin and Gandalf had come out with new swords. Then they heard some kind of russling, something was coming towards them. Soon, a ratty old man surrounded by bunnies burst forth from the forest.

"Radagast!" Gandalf excliamed. The twitchy man turned to Gandalf and asked to speak with him alone. As they walked away, the whole company got a good glimpe of the bird poop dripping off the side of his head. After a while of resting, the company began to hear growling.

"Is that a wolf? Are there wolves out here?" Bilbo began to question. "Wolves, no that is not a wolf." Bofur said as they turned toward the growling in time to see a warg come down and almost tackle Bofur. "NO!" Keta yelled amonget all the commostion as Thorin's new blade sliced through the warg. Keta thanked Aule that no one had heard her.

"Warg scouts, which means an Orc pack is not far behind." Thorin said as he withdrew his weapon from the lifeless warg. "Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin. Who did you tell!" Gandalf said looking down at Thorin.

"No one, I swear." Thorin shot back. "What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted." Gandalf huffed out. "I'll draw them off." Radagast said from behind everyone. "These are Gundabad Orcs. They will out-run you." Gandalf said almost out of breath.

"These are Rustabel Rabbits." Radagast said. "I'd like to see them try." And with that, the company was running across the plains every which way. Soon they stopped behind a very large rock and they heard snarling coming from above them. Thorin nodded to Kili and he drew his bow and arrow. Kili took a deep breath and flipped around in time to see the Orc riding a warg and shot it, causing it to fall off the top of the rock.

A couple of the dwarfs that were closest to the warg and Orc began hacking away until it laid motionless on the ground. When the dwarfs looked over, Gandalf was yelling at them to begin running.

Soon enough, the company was surrounded and then Gandalf was nowhere to be found. "He's abandoned us!" Dwalin yelled. "Hold your ground!" Thorin yelled out as he drew his sword. The next thing they knew, Gandalf was yelling for them. "This way, you fools."

Thorin stood on top of a rock and yelled for them to move towards him. They ran behind the rock and dropped down the hole that had Gandalf at the bottom of it, counting them as they came down. Bofur was the first one down and half of them had slid down before Keta came. She landed with her feet forward and enough momentum to launch her towards Bofur.

He saw her coming and extended his arm to catch her. Keta's face hit his chest, knocking him down to the floor. She lifted her head to see him, he had a large grin on his face. Bofur lifted his hand to her cheek, letting the back of his fingers caress her skin. Her eye lids fell to a close and she leaned into his touch, the whole world melting away.

Something caught Bofur's eye and he trailed his fingers down to Keta's neck. The colored charm he had given her still hung around her neck. Keta's eye flew open to see Bofur staring and running the wooden trinket between his fingers. "You kept it." Bofur said without even looking up. But before Keta could respond, reality snapped back with Dwalin peeling Keta away from Bofur.

Bofur stood up just before Thorin slid down into the hole. Soon after, they could hear a horn being blown. Then, a lifeless Ocr came rolling down the slope to there feet. Thorin moved through and pulled an arrow from the Ocr's neck. "Elves." He muttered as he threw the broken arrow to the ground.

"I cannot see where the pathway leads. Should we follow it or no." Dwalin yelled from the back of the cave. "Follow it, of course!" Bofur said picking up his weapon and following Dwalin.

When they reached the end of the path, they came face to face with what Gandalf called Rivendell. Thorin almost threw a fit. He began accusing Gandalf of wanted to bring them here the whole time and Gandalf shut his down easily. After a little bit more walking, they crossed and narrow bridge onto a large platform. Dwalin moved over to stand next to Thorin and began whispering in his ear. He told him about how he found Keta and Bofur. Soon, Thorin was fuming and with that, he realized what a threat Bofur posed with Keta.

After Gandalf finished speaking with an Elf, the horns sounded again and Thorin yelled for them to close ranks. Bofur pulled Bilbo and Keta behind him before raising his weapon to defend them. When the Elves finished circling them, one of the Elves began talking to Gandalf. The Elf lord spoke to Thorin once before speaking in his own tongue. "What is his saying?" Gloin said raising his weapon again. "Does he offer us insult?"

"No, master Gloin, he's offering you food." Gandalf said. The dwarfs began muttering to each other before Gloin turned back to say, "Well, in that case, lead on."


	5. Chapter 5

Everyone began filing into the opened dining area. Thorin pulled Keta to the side roughfully.

"What do you think you're doing." Thorin said as he pulled her over by her arm. "What are you speaking of. I have done only as you wished." She said as she pushed and pulled away from him.

Thorin dragged her into an open room and check that is was empty. He closed the door and threw her to the ground. "How long?" Thorin asked turned towards the door. "How long what?" Keta said as she pulled herself from the floor. "How long have you been fooling around with that... that... PEASENT!" Thorin lost his temper and began yelling. "YOU ARE MINE! NO ONE ELSE'S" Keta was knocked back down with Thorin looming over her.

Tears started stinging in the corner of Keta's eye's. She had seen Thorin mad, but it was nothing like this. Thorin's eye moved to the charm around Keta's neck and his angry just kept growing. "Is that where that came from." He said pointing to Keta's neck. Keta couldn't find her words and her silence was more than enough for Thorin.

Thorin bent over Keta, his large hand reaching for her throat. She was afraid he was going to strangle her, so she screamed. Thorin didn't even registered that she had screamed, he just ripped the charm from her neck and threw it into the fireplace. Keta watched in horror as the fire consumed the small trinket. Tears split over her eyes as Thorin walked back over in front of her.

"Clean yourself up. You will stop seeing him. You will tell him that you never wanted him. You will tell him tonight." Thorin said as he collected himself and left the room. After he left, he ran into Lindir.

"Is everything to your liking? I thought I heard someone scream." He asked as he eyed Thorin. "Everything is fine." Thorin said as he pushed pass Lindir, but he wasn't convenced. After Thorin moved into the dining area, Lindir slipped into the room and closed the door behind him. When he turned forward, he saw Keta, sitting on the floor, wiping her eyes.

"Miss, is everything alright?" Lindir said, knelling down to help her. "I'm fine. I just slipped." She said waving him off. Lindir didn't think much of it and escorted her back to the dining area. Before taking her seat, Keta walked up behind Bofur and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What can I do for you, love." He said in a hushed tone. "I must see you tonight." Keta whispered. "Meet me there tonight after the sun sets." She said as she pointed to a heavly planted garden. Bofur nodded and turned back to his dinner.

***

Keta waited in front of a large fountain in the garden. She sat on the edge of the large pool of water. When she looked up, she could see stars beinning to appear in the night sky. She turned her head and saw Thorin standing up on a balcony. He wanted to make sure this happened. He would not lose to someone obviously lower in class than him.

Keta hear russling in the bushes and soon Bofur appeared. "One can easily get lost in a place like this." He said with a smile on his face. "One should stay on the path laid before them." Keta snapped back with, turning to face the water again.

Bofur frowned, his brow furrowed. "Keta, whats wrong? Something is upsetting you."

"It is you. You are upsetting me." Keta said, not turned to look at him. She couldn't look at him with what she had to say. At that moment, Bofur noticed that Keta didn't wear the charm he had given her and that made him very conserned. "Keta, is someone making you do this?"

"This is all my doing. We can't contiune like this. We will not contiune at all." Keta's eyes couldn't surpress the onslaught of tears that came flooding through her. And with that, Keta said the words she almost couldn't bear to think of.

"I never loved you. How could I? How could you compete with a man like Thorin. He is a king and you are nothing." Keta couldn't help the emotion coming through as she talked. Bofur was stunned. "We both know thats not true." He could already feel tears stinging in the corner of his eyes. "Keta, stop this. I won't hear anymore of this."

"Good, because you will not hear from me anymore either." The sentence left her quickly as did she. Keta fled the garden, leaving Bofur standing there, dumbfounded. All the cheeryness had left him and he felt hollow, as if a piece of him had just been ripped from him. Bofur stumbed to sit on the ledge of the fountain. He felt as if all the happiness in his world had been sucked out. His chest began to hurt. It was his heart, it was broken.

***

Keta couldn't see where see was going. Her tears blurred her vision as she ran around the grounds. She bumped into walls and corners before pushing into the portal of her room and slamming the door shut. Keta closed the lock on her door and felt into bed, sobbing. She was wailing and she couldn't breath. She could hear voices behind the locked door, but she didn't bother going to open it. She wanted to shut the world out.

Thorin was on the other side of the door, banging and yelling to get her attention. He was getting frustrated and began drawing a crowd. Soon, Lord Elrond appears and he was not happy.

"What is the meaning of this, Master Dwarf?" He yelled over Thorin. "It's Keta. She will not listen or come out." Thorin said, very irritated. "Has it even crossed your mind that she does not want to see you now." Lord Elrond shot back. Thorin stopped banging on the door and slowly turned towards Lord Elrond and he was fuming. Dwalin had to pull him back before the king under the mountain let the Elf lord have it.

Lord Elrond turned to Linder and whispered something in Elvish and Lindir made a small bow and turned to leave.

Most do not know that Rivendell is littered with secret pathways. All you have to do is know where to look. Every room is connected to a private bathroom and each bathroom has a secret door that opened to a path to the Great Hall. Lindir quickly followed the darkened path and quietly opened the door.

Lindir slipped into the room. It was lit dimly by the fire roaring in the corner. Keta was here, she laid on the bed with her face in the pillow to try and muffle her sobbing. Being an Elf, Linder never really cared for Dwarfs, but he didn't think twice about comforting her. But first, he had to get the crowd behind the door to leave.

Lindir unlocked the door and faced the mob on the other side. "Keta must rest. She has informed me that she is feeling ill and -"

"Out of the way, Elf!" Thorin said trying to push back Lindir, but Lindir persited. Lindir pushed him back long enough to slip back into the room, closing and locking the door behind him. He could hear Thorin growling and grumbling as he walked away. Soon there was silence behind the door and Lindir walked over to the end of the bed to speak with Keta.

Keta had straighten up a little since Lindir entered the room. She hear the argument with Thorin and watched as Lindir listened for any movement on the other side of the door. Lindir sat on the edge of the bed and waited for Keta to make the first move. He looked at her as if to say, "I'm here to make everything better." Keta couldn't stop herself.

Keta threw herself into Lindir's arms, clinging to him like a lifeline. Lindir was surprised by the female Dwarf's actions, he thought she might cry or need some kind words, but nothing like this. She began crying again, so Lindir just held her and made calming shushing sounds as he rubbed her back and rocked back and forth.

After a while, Keta began hiccuping and sniffling. Keta was quiet enough to hear Lindir singing. As a young Elf, Lindir's mother would sing this song to ease heart ache. Keta thought the song was calming and pretty. When one truly listened to Elvish, they can find the beauty in the language, even a dwarf.

Soon Lindir could feel Keta go boneless against him. He looked down to see she her sleeping, making quiet snoring sounds as she slept. Linder pulled Keta fully into his arms, stood up and pulled the duvet back. He laid her on the bed and dragged the duvet back over her up to her shoulder. Lindir unlocked the door and looked out into the hall. If Thorin was out there, he would go out the same way he came in instead of the normal door.

No one was out in the hall, so Lindir decided this way to be fine. But when Lindir left the room, Thorin was waiting around the corner and slipped into the room. When he saw that Keta was sleeping, he tried to stay as quiet as possible, but she began to stir anyway. Thorin was getting into bed as Keta turned around to see him.

Thorin stopped moving when Keta's eyes became fixed on him. She looked at him for a minute and then turned back to where she was laying before. Thorin reached out and pressed his hand in the middle of her back. He could see and feel her whole body tense with his touch. With that, he didn't feel angry or jelousy, he felt the sting of remorse for what he had done.

Dwarfs only truly love once in their life, and when a dwarf has found that love, they feel the phyiscal pain of love. Their whole life from then on is about making sure that dwarf is happy and loved, even if that means not being with them.

That night Thorin realized his mistake. Now, he needed to fix it on his own.


End file.
